Malta will this year once again be the only country in Europe to allow spring hunting of turtle doves, Birdlife said on Wednesday.
NGO president Darryl Grima said he was alarmed by how national institutions seemed to all favour hunters, and accused state authorities of providing false and misleading data about the practice.
Grima was speaking one day after Birdlife lost a court case – its third in as many years – that sought to revoke a government decision to allow hunting in April.
Hunters can legally shoot quail as of Wednesday until April 30. They will be permitted to hunt turtle dove from April 17 for a two-week period.
Although turtle doves are protected until that date, Grima said Birdlife volunteers out in the countryside on Wednesday morning had already spotted poachers gunning down the birds.
Grima said he wasn’t surprised.
“There is no doubt that while hunters are out allegedly hunting one bird, they are actually hunting anything that passes,” Grima said.
“We know from experience that turtle doves are being killed from day one of the season. Opening of spring season is a carte blanche for hunters so they can kill protected birds, and year after year, we have had numerous reports of so many protected birds being killed across the Maltese Islands.”
Grima said the NGO would not be discouraged by Tuesday’s court defeat.
A court rejected Birdlife’s eleventh-hour request to stop the spring hunting season, saying the NGO seemed to be forum shopping in the hope of obtaining a favourable outcome without any change in circumstances.
Birdlife says scientific studies show that turtle dove populations are falling across Europe and repeatedly notes how EU laws ban hunting in spring, when birds are migrating.
Malta is currently locked in a battle with the EU at the European Court of Justice over its decision to disregard that law.
In his decision against Birdlife, Mr Justice Francesco Depasquale, said it was “difficult” to link the alleged decline in turtle dove populations to the spring hunting season, given that the season was only open for a few weeks and Malta was “nothing but a rock in the large Mediterranean Sea”.
Speaking from the Simar reserve in Xemxija, Grima said that studies showed that turtle dove populations had grown in areas which have adopted a moratorium on spring hunting of the species, such as France, Spain and Portugal, but dwindled in areas which had not, such as Malta.
“We are the only country in Europe that hunts turtle doves during the spring season,” he said.
‘Democratic collapse’ when it comes to Turtle dove hunting
Grima said Malta was facing a “democratic collapse” in terms of hunting regulation, with authorities, including the police and Environment and Resources Authority, all rowing in hunters’ favour.
The reports and numbers such entities provide are “false”, Grima said.
Birdlife has repeatedly flagged suspicions about the way in which hunters must self-report the birds they catch using an SMS-based system, saying it does not work.
We are in favour of nature
Further commenting on the court sitting, Grima said the NGO believes spring hunting should stop not because it impacts just the turtle doves but all species.
“Birdlife is not against hunting, it is in favour of nature,” he said.
“All our actions are in favour of nature and I cannot emphasise this more. Our values are in favour of conservation and science.”
“Whether we lose (court case) or not, our values do not change. We will fight for the environment, as Malta deserves a strong voice in nature.”